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würde

English translation: ...was going to be installed.

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11:05 Oct 24, 2011

German to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Klage (die Schweiz)

German term or phrase: würde

Am 15. Juli teilte die Beklagte mit, dass sie noch damit beschäftigt sei, die Qualitätsprobleme zu beheben, und dass neue Software installiert würde.

How could I render "würde" in an English sentence, is it "would be installed" or "was installed" (according to the Defendant)? Thank you in advance

Sterk KudoZ activity Questions: 976 (none open) (49 closed without grading) Answers: 0
Local time: 04:03

English translation:...was going to be installed.

Explanation:
So interpretiere ich den Kontext.

Selected response from:

Thomas Giebler
Local time: 03:03

Grading comment

yes, I think it's the most optimal solution
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +6

WOULD BE

MartaMariaC

3 +5

was (being) installed

Thayenga

3 +3

...was going to be installed.

Thomas Giebler

Discussion entries: 6

Kirsten Bodart

Germany

It is possible

19:04 Oct 24, 2011

to have a KII where a KI should be, if the KII is equal to the KII in form, so as to avoid any confusion between the two forms. In other words, if the defendant said, 'Software wurde installiert' (was installed), then in the KI that would be 'Software wurde installiert' (past), but to make it absolutely clear, one may say 'Software würde installiert'. Another way of looking at this is that the person who has written this document has doubts as to the fact that there was really sotware installed, but as this is a legal thing, that way is pretty dodgy. Direct speech of 'Software sei installiert worden' would be 'Software ist installiert worden'. 'Wurde' has no equivalent. Stamm + e (e.g. er lage, bliebe). 'Wurde' has already an e and therefore, to make the difference, the KII is used. To me, both feeling and theory, the defendant said that software was installed. But the whole situation should be clear from the context, though.

casper

@ Andrew Swift

17:04 Oct 24, 2011

But we're not dealing with "future/conditional forms (wird/würde ... installieren)" here, are we? As far as I can see, Neue Software würde installiert, as used in the source sentence, is passive construction + indirect speech.

Andrew Swift

United Kingdom

German native speaker input required

16:59 Oct 24, 2011

Konjunktiv II use instead of conditional:
würde sein > wäre
würde haben > hätte
würde kommen > käme
würde (installiert) werden > ... ?

Andrew Swift

United Kingdom

Hi Melanie

16:55 Oct 24, 2011

The problem might be with the dual use of 'werden' to form both the passive (installiert werden) and the future/conditional forms (wird/würde ... installieren). Re your second point: 'werde installiert' is the indirect speech equivalent of the present passive form "Die Software wird installiert".

casper

Good point, Melanie

16:52 Oct 24, 2011

So we have the following 3 theoretically possible sentence structures in direct speech:
1. Neue Software wird installiert (direkte Rede) --> Neue Software werde installiert (indirekte Rede)
2. Neue Software wurde installiert (direkte Rede) --> Neue Software sei installiert worden (indirekte Rede)
3. Neue Software wird installiert werden (direkte Rede) --> Neue Software werde installiert werden (indirekte Rede)
As Melanie has rightly pointed out, the sentence structure Neue Software würde installiert does not exist in the indirect speech in German.
Looks like we have here a fit case for seeking clarification from the client.

Melanie Nassar

Palestine

Problem with Konjunktiv?

15:17 Oct 24, 2011

I have been thinking about this for some time, and I'm beginning to think the problem might be the incorrect use of Konjunktiv 1 in the source text. I had to read up again on Passiv in indirekter Rede and the only forms I found were: sie werde installiert, sie sei installiert worden, sie werde installiert werden for passive in present, past, future.
(apparently no "sie würde installiert", but I'm not a native speaker)

I see 2 possibilities now
1) If the defendant is correct and the meaning is 'was installed', an incorrect form was used and should have been 'sei installiert worden'

2)If the meaning is 'would be installed', the incorrect form was used and should be 'werde installiert'

See
http://www.mein-deutschbuch.de/lernen.php?menu_id=36

Answers

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

WOULD BE

Explanation:
if you said "was being installed", it would mean someone was installing it while she was being heard (in court).
aber ich bin sicher, Sie wissen es schon :)

MartaMariaC
Spain
Local time: 03:03
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Polish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

disagree

writeaway: was installed. it's German subjunctive, oder??

2 mins

-> so she installed it despite the quality problems she had been experiencing? in which case, I'd say "had been installed"

agree

Alexander Schleber: ...busy with remedying the quality problems and that new software would be installed.

11 mins

-> thanks a bunch

agree

Helen Shiner: It is not 'wurde installiert' which would be 'had been'./Hi MartaMaria - I know you know! Comment not addressed to you. We can only translate what we have unless obvious mistakes are evident. The Asker will have to decide this on the wider context I guess

1 hr

-> Thanks, Helen and I know :) but A) there've been some seeds of doubt sown in my mind b) the context is not really clear c) you may never exclude the possibility of the source text containing an error - it might not have been written by a NS

agree

Andrew Swift: Agree. Current leader has offered a translation for 'dass ... installiert *werde*' (3rd person subjunctive) // Horst Huber: How could 'werde' be a command (imperative form) in the above context? "...teilte mit, dass..."

2 hrs

-> cheers!

agree

John Hein-Hartmann

2 hrs

-> thanks a bunch

agree

jccantrell

3 hrs

-> thanks a bunch

agree

philgoddard: I think this is a lot simpler than we're making it out to be. It's not the subjunctive, it's the conditional.

5 hrs

neutral

Horst Huber: @ Andrew, "werde" could be a command.

5 hrs

agree

BethanyHH: yes! it seems that "würde" was used to keep the same tense as the rest of the sentence (as "sei"), the passive KII, and indicates it should have happened or would be done (we don't know if it was installed or not!)

3 days23 hrs

22 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

was (being) installed

Explanation:
One option. :)

Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 03:03
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

writeaway: (with a strong preference for was installed)

3 mins

-> Thank you, writeaway. :)

neutral

MartaMariaC: possible indeed - but why "und" and not "aber" in that case (not in your answer :) - in the context given)? unless of course the software in question was supposed to be a remedy to the problems experienced

4 mins

-> You have me puzzled here. Even rechecked my answer, but... no "und" or "aber" found. :O

agree

franglish

20 mins

-> Thank you, franglish. :)

agree

Joshua Pepper: Or perhaps "in the process of being installed"

26 mins

-> Perhaps. Thank you, Joshua. :)

agree

Melanie Nassar : was installed, if we assume direkte Rede "wurde installiert"

1 hr

-> True. Thank you, Melanie. :)

agree

Kirsten Bodart: was installed (not being)

7 hrs

-> That why I placed it in (..). Thank you, Kirsten. :)

44 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

...was going to be installed.

Explanation:
So interpretiere ich den Kontext.

Thomas Giebler
Local time: 03:03
Native speaker of:

German,

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

yes, I think it's the most optimal solution

Voters for reclassification
as
PRO / non-PRO

PRO (3): casper, Andrew Swift, Susanne Schiewe

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Changes made by editors

Oct 24, 2011 - Changes made by Susanne Schiewe:
Level	Non-PRO => PRO
Oct 24, 2011 - Changes made by writeaway:
Field	Law/Patents => Tech/Engineering
Field (specific)	Law (general) => General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

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würde

English translation: ...was going to be installed.

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würde

English translation: ...was going to be installed.

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.